Heat retaining wetsuit

ABSTRACT

A wetsuit comprised of two layers of laminated rubber sponge material which may or may not be fabric coated. A stuffing material of variable thickness is located in selected areas between the two rubber sponges referred to herein as Air Chambers. The two layers of laminated rubber sponges are glued together along their adjacent surfaces except in selected areas where their common borders of the sponges are left unglued and form a watertight construction, i.e., the “Air Chamber”. The stuffing material is a light material with a density of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm 3  and typically formed of multi-layered fiber structure and the like. The Air Chamber can be located at any part of the wetsuit to provide the person who wears the wetsuit the function of heat retaining/thermal insulation and impact protection. In an additional embodiment, the stuffing material is secured within another thin plastic enclosure within the air chamber. This enclosure may be provided as a single pocket or as a plurality of contiguous pockets.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/174,688 filed Jul. 5, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of wetsuits used for diving, surfing and the like, and more specifically to an improved wetsuit comprising two layers of laminated rubber sponge material which may or may not be coated with fabric and a stuffing material of variable thickness, between the two rubber sponges.

The two layers of laminated rubber sponge material are glued at the borders of the sponges and form a water-tight construction, called an “Air Chamber”. Using the stuffing material to hold and increase the amount of air in the Air Chamber reduces the rate of temperature conduction of the water, thereby slowing down thermal loss of the wearer's body. The stuffing material is light with a density of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm³, and a multi-layered fiber structure and the like. The Air Chamber can be located at any part of the wetsuit, but is normally on the breast or back and the selected portion when used, provides the person who wears the wetsuit the function of heat retaining/thermal insulation and impact protection.

2. Background Art

There have been numerous disclosures of wetsuits which employ a fabric carrying internal channels, sacs and the like for containing a material for better controlling temperature. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,469 to Nuckols et al discloses a wetsuit or drysuit having an internal manifold for circulating an insulating liquid near the skin to protect a diver in cold water. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,662 to Buckley discloses a laminated composite material containing a thermal buffer in the form of phase change material embedded in capsules. Other prior art discloses wetsuits designed to protect the wearer against inadvertent impact. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,749 to Grounds et al, discloses a wetsuit having inserted pads in selected areas. The pads are placed in pockets which may be between wetsuit layers or in sealed sacs containing a gel, water or air.

Such prior art tends to be either very cumbersome, or irreversible and generally does nothing to add to the aesthetic appearance of the wetsuit.

It would be highly advantageous to have a wetsuit made of a laminated sponge material having built-in chambers for receiving a stuffing material which could add to the thermal insulation properties of the fabric while also affording a degree of impact protection. It would also be advantageous if such a fabric employed such chambers in a selected location which added to the aesthetic appearance of the wetsuit.

SUMMARY THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a wetsuit and wetsuit fabric made of a multi-layer laminated sponge material having a plurality of air chambers formed between the sponge layers. The air chambers are formed by unattached regions between sponge layers that are otherwise attached such as by gluing. The unattached regions are free to separate from each other and expand in response to receiving low density stuffing material. Using the stuffing material to hold and increase the amount of air in the Air Chamber reduces the rate of temperature conduction of the water, thereby slowing down thermal loss of the wearer's body. The stuffing material is light with a density of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm³, and of multi-layered fiber structure and the like. The Air Chamber can be located at any part of the wetsuit, but is normally on the breast or back and the selected portion when used, provides the person who wears the wetsuit the function of heat retaining/thermal insulation and impact protection.

In the embodiment described herein, these chambers are of a selected shape, however, it will be understood that these chambers may be virtually any shape depending simply on the design chosen for the air chambers. The disclosed embodiment illustrates application of the invention in the front and back chest area of a wetsuit. However, it will also be understood that sponge material employing expandable air chambers may be employed at virtually any location in a wetsuit as well as in accessories such as gloves, boots and hoods. Irrespective of their shape and location, the expandable air chambers within the layers of a wetsuit sponge, provide increased thermal insulation, improved impact protection and a new aesthetic effect in the wetsuit design. All of these advantages are achieved without substantially complicating the manufacture of the wetsuit fabric by simply controlling the application of glue between the sponge layers such as by embossing the glue in a selected pattern before joining the layers and placing very low density material between the sponges where no glue has been applied.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aforementioned objects and advantages of the present invention, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will be more fully understood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of a wetsuit in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the preferred embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view of the chest portion of the wetsuit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the chest portion shown before gluing of the two sponge layers;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the chest portion shown after gluing of the two sponge layers;

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5, but illustrating an embodiment in which the stuffing material is secured within a thin plastic enclosure;

FIG. 7 is similar to FIG. 4, but illustrating the embodiment of FIG. 6 prior to gluing of the sponge layers;

FIG. 8 is similar to FIG. 3, but illustrating the embodiment of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 illustrates still an additional embodiment wherein the thin plastic enclosure of the stuffing material shown in FIG. 6 is formed as a plurality of contiguous pockets to alter the aesthetic appearance of the stuffed air chambers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the accompanying drawings, it will be seen in FIGS. 1 through 5 that in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a wetsuit comprises two layers of a sponge-like material, namely, layer 6 and layer 7. These sponge layers may or may not have a fabric-covered surface. In the wetsuit 1 shown in FIG. 1, most of the regions of the two layers of sponge material are glued together using glue 5 to form a laminated wetsuit configuration. However, in one or more selected regions 2 (i.e., chest, left back, right back, etc.) the two layers of sponge material are left unglued and thus free to separate from one another to form an air chamber 3 surrounded by a glued border 8.

In the preferred embodiment shown herein, these air chambers are filled with a low density stuffing material 4. This material will preferably have a density of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm³ such as can be achieved using a multi-layered fiber structure (i.e., layered cotton fiber, synthetic fiber or the like). Any desired thickness of stuffing material can be used.

The stuffing material serves multiple purposes. It serves an aesthetic purpose by changing the outer aesthetic appearance of the wetsuit material. It serves as a thermally insulating material along with the air that fills the chamber occupied by the stuffing material to better protect the areas of the body inside the portions of the wetsuit having such a chamber. It also serves to protect against impact at the wetsuit surface.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned stuffing material is secured within a thin plastic material 9 within air chamber 3. Plastic material 9 is preferably provided in a pair of layers secured at their common borders by heating until the two layers adhere to one another forming a sealed bag containing the stuffing material. The thin plastic material 9 may be made of isocyanate derivatives, chloro-olefinic polymers and other similar plastic materials. FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, similar to FIGS. 5, 4 and 3, respectively, illustrate the modified air chamber structure wherein the stuffing material 4 is secured within the plastic material 9. FIG. 9 illustrates a further variation wherein the plastic material 9 is formed into a plurality of contiguous stuffing material pockets 10. This altered version of the second embodiment permits other aesthetic variations by simply heat adhering the plastic material 9 at selected areas 11 between pockets 10.

It will now be apparent that what has been disclosed herein is an illustrative embodiment of the invention hereof and which comprises a unique wetsuit construction having two layers of sponge material at least some parts or regions of which remain unglued and thus separatable to form air chambers preferably filled to a selected degree with a low density stuffing material. A second embodiment secures the stuffing material in thin plastic enclosures. Those having skill in the wetsuit art will now perceive various modifications which may be made to the illustrated embodiment. Therefore, it will be understood that the invention hereof is not limited to the disclosed embodiment, but only by the appended claims and their equivalents. 

1. A wetsuit fabric comprising at least two layers of a sponge-like material selected areas of which are glued together and at least one other area of which is left unglued to form an enclosed chamber therebetween, said chamber being filled with a stuffing material separating the two adjacent layers of sponge-like material.
 2. The wetsuit fabric of claim 1 wherein said stuffing material has a density in the range of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm³.
 3. The wetsuit fabric of claim 1 where said sponge-like material layers each has a fabric surface.
 4. The wetsuit fabric of claim 1 wherein said stuffing material is in the form of a layered fabric.
 5. The wetsuit fabric of claim 1 wherein said stuffing material is further enclosed within at least one pocket of thin plastic material within said chamber.
 6. The wetsuit fabric of claim 1 wherein said stuffing material is further enclosed within a plurality of contiguous pockets of thin plastic material within said chamber.
 7. A wetsuit comprising at least two layers of a sponge-like material selected areas of which are glued together and at least one other area of which is left unglued to form an enclosed chamber therebetween, said chamber being filled with a stuffing material separating the two adjacent layers of sponge-like material.
 8. The wetsuit of claim 7 wherein said stuffing material has a density in the range of 0.02˜0.05 mg/cm³.
 9. The wetsuit of claim 7 where said sponge-like material layers each has a fabric surface.
 10. The wetsuit of claim 7 wherein said stuffing material is in the form of a layered fabric.
 11. The wetsuit recited in claim 7 wherein said at least one other area is along the chest region of said wetsuit.
 12. The wetsuit recited in claim 7 wherein said at least one other area is along the back area of said wetsuit.
 13. The wetsuit of claim 7 wherein said stuffing material is further enclosed within at least one pocket of thin plastic material within said chamber.
 14. The wetsuit of claim 7 wherein said stuffing material is further enclosed within a plurality of contiguous pockets of thin plastic material within said chamber. 